Previous generations topped out in their late 40s, but Baby Boom workers are ceasing to rise by their early 40s. They plug the pyramids, so thirtysomethings will find advancement even more difficult. Take a chance on lateral moves if you need new challenges, but try to get a guarantee of a new assignment if things don't work out. Fill your resume with projects you've worked on rather than titles you've held. Publicize your contributions. Network. Look for opportunities at work, perhaps creating a higher-level job. Consider putting energy into family and community life. [Jane Bryant Quinn, Newsweek, 9/20/93.] (Or take a job that no one else wants, and do it impressively well.)

Tom Peters recommends that we update our resumes every 6/30 and 12/31. List projects initiated and completed, with measurable results and references from internal and external customers. Aim to be more marketable with each update. Also, grow your list of contacts and have a procedure for keeping in touch. And departments should take a "spunk" test: just walk in the door and see if the colorful, lively environment puts a spring in your step. [SJM, 1/10/94.]

Letip International is a networking organization (or "tip club") for professionals -- lawyers, accountants, financial planners, etc. -- interested in contacts, business leads, and mutual service. Small groups meet weekly. Selling within your group is unlikely to make much money, but the group can act as your sales force to their own customers. [Brian Harp (harp@isi.edu), online, 12/29/93.]

OverSeas Brats Inc. (San Antonio) helps alumni associations from DoD and State Department schools connect with their missing graduates and teachers. Contact Joe Condrill (210-349-1394) or Glenn Greenwood (glenng@tenet.edu) to ask if your former school has an alumni group. [Shannon Edwards (stubblef@tenet.edu), net-hap, 1/5/94.]

Esther Dyson has noticed a newsletter service on the WIRE network for women. "... the individual puts good taste to work for others. She is well-respected by user-peers and charges a nominal fee to allow other participants to share what she has learned during her electronic travels." "You'll see a much bigger market of people who act as editors for other people." [Skye Ketonen, SEF Forum, 1/94.]

Phil Agre has started The Network Observer, a free monthly e-newsletter about networks and democracy. The premier issue tells how to write effective network action alerts for political causes. Phil encourages people to start their own newsletters, filtering services, digests, and the like, as in his 500-member Red Rock Eater News Service or Gleason Sackman's net-happenings. Another useful service is to compile FAQs and how-to guides by soliciting tips from experienced players. A good example was David Chapman's "How to Do Research at the MIT AI Lab." [pagre@weber.ucsd.edu, TNO, 1/7/94.] (To get RRE and TNO, send a "subscribe your name" subject line to rre-request@weber.ucsd.edu. To get the high-volume net-happenings, send a "sub net-happenings your name" message to listserv@internic.net.)